The Herald’s big story about Kerry Healey, abortion on demand for 16-year-olds, and her campaign’s embarrassing denial of her flip-flopping on the issue until they were confronted with the videotape is the talk of the local blogosphere, both left and right.
Lost in the shuffle ’til now, though, is the very beginning of the tape, in which John Brockelman (who was portraying Jim Rappaport, and who was as plugged in to the state Republican establishment as anyone at the time) introduces the topic of abortion in a most interesting way. Unfortunately, the beginning of the tape is cut off, but it’s not too hard to piece together what he’s saying:
… abortion, he and I come down on the same side. We’re pro-choice, but we believe there should be some reasonable restrictions in place. My question to you, Kerry, is the fact that you support lowering the age of consent to the age of 16…. Can you please explain to me your position, and why you differ from Mitt Romney on it?
Well, well, well. It sure sounds like John Brockelman thought in 2002 that Mitt Romney was “pro-choice,” but favored “reasonable restrictions” on abortion. And Brockelman, remember, was actually on the Romney-Healey team (otherwise he wouldn’t have been helping with Healey’s debate prep) – it seems highly unlikely to me that he would intentionally mis-describe his understanding of Romney’s position on abortion in this setting.
Looks like Romney had even his own campaign staff fooled.
near your children, folks. Healey’s crazy!
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actually, it sounds like Healey actually has some foresight — when none of our teens know how to use a condom b/c of the Romney sex ed program, they’ll all be forced to get abortions at the ripe old age of 16. Good thinking, Kerry. It’s the Republican 1-2 punch!
Call it “Mockgate”!
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(As in, mock debate. Did you think I would condone the mocking of an elected representative?? OK, yeah, I would…)
Maybe Mitt Romney was onto something in ’02 when he referred to his own, hand-picked running mate as “Sherry” Healey. We could be dealing with a split personality here: Kerry Healey is the tough-talking, hard-line conservative, while “Sherry” Healey is her softer, gentler alter ego.
Is there video of any other portion of the debate prep and how did it get leaked????
What is with this issue? Not the debate tape, but the right of a 16 year old to have access to abortion.
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Its somewhat ironic that this issue is the that single biggest reason why Shannon O’Brien lost to Romney and now it reappears to make Healey look like a phony.
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Anyone strange point is the fact that this issue hasn’t been around at all since that final debate between Romney and O’Brien, with Tim Russert as moderator.
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So maybe this tape is Russert’s copy?
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PS
Now that this issue has just so happened to reappear, I wonder how this year’s crop of candidates will answer it.
Instead of quibbling about the age, I’d like to see a candidate just answer by explaining why a strict parental consent requirement is a bad thing, period. Talking about 16 year olds getting abortions makes you look bad, and gets people to focus on how young they are. Talking about the wrongess of our parental consent law looks much better, and gets people thinking about abortion choice and restrictions, not about age. We’re a very pro-choice state. The Republicans use age as a wedge issue to distract people from that.